Friday, October 5, 2012

I am so over marathon training, it’s ridiculous. It is in 2 days and clearly I just sort of stopped posting about any running at all. My running brain is fried. I think maybe it stopped being fun and turned into something I was dreading …. And that’s solely because of the ridiculously hot weather that wouldn’t stop. So this recap is going to be short, and I’m just doing it kind of for myself to keep record of what I pathetically tried to do.

So 1.63 – as I recall I was overly stressed about the annoying blemish of 2012. Happily it went away really fast due to this awesome Neutrogena thing I picked up. That stuff was amazing! And why was there the blemish of ’12? I think that came along from wedding stress. It started bugging me on the day we went wedding dress shopping. The next day I worked on invitations and it took on a life of its own. To relax we went for a run. Well it didn’t and I just had a big mental breakdown and we cut our run really short. Blah, whatever. If you’ll recall, it was then just a day and a half after that that I was at rock bottom and crying a lot after my aunt did her thing …. So no running.

1.64 was really nice. I was in Walt Disney World and decided to get up extra early for a little sunrise run through my resort area. It was so peaceful to be outside with only a couple other runners, a bunny rabbit, palm trees and most important …. No screaming children! I got in 2 miles in 20 minutes and was dripping. When I got to the room I warned Jessica that we were in for a couple of crazy races if for no reason other than the humidity. That takes me to run 1.65….

1.65 – This was part one of my final long run before the Portland Marathon. It was Disney’s Haunted Trail Halloween 5K, or something like that. I’ll get the right name in the race report. So I did a 5K … in jeans and a flannel shirt. Seriously.

1.66 – The last long run. And I could barely run. It was about 104 degrees with 99% humidity. I may have exaggerated, but not by much at all! It was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10 Miler. I really had a lot of fun. Instead of racing it like I planned when I registered (BEFORE registering for the full marathon) I stayed with my friend and helped motivate her to keep moving. I’m so proud of her, and happy to say that her average pace per mile for this was TWO MINUTES faster than her pace per mile for the Vegas half! And even if I didn’t run it, there must be something said for doing 2 races in one day and being awake for 24 straight hours!

So that’s it. That is the end of my marathon training. I’d have run more at home but I’m battling some post-race/post-Disney gluttony cankles and I just have no oomph in me to run. I’ll hopefully get up a couple race reports from Disney …. And Sunday I’ll be trying to brace myself, during the first 16 miles, for the ginormous structure known as the St. John’s bridge. OMG it is huge. I might die!

And I guess I’ll just say that my whining won’t be over. I’ll give it a fresh start. Once Portland is done I’ll be back at run 2.1 as I start training for the second full marathon – and then I’m done. No more marathons! I don’t think, anyway. I'm exhausted!

I'm saying the same thing about marathons... I have NYCM and then Goofy. I'm over it. Training for a marathon is like having a second job. I don't really see another full marathon in my futer after Goofy...if I even survive these two. Hope your race went well today. Can't wait for the recap.